"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented data on drug overdose death rates from 2001-2014, and it does not look good".

“Prescription drug overdose deaths have nearly tripled since 2001Opioid overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled since 2001Benzodiazepine overdose deaths have increased by more than 600% since 2001Cocaine overdose deaths are up 42% since 2001Heroin overdose deaths are up nearly 500% since 2001”

In addition to this, “alcohol is killing Americans at a rate not seen in at least 35 years”—increasing 37 percent since 2002. These deaths are from causes such as alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis, and do not include deaths from drunk driving and other accidents.

“After three months of treatment, the frequency of all seizures was reduced by a median of 45 percent in all participants. Almost half (47%) of the participants in the study experienced a 50 percent or greater reduction in seizures and nine percent of patients were seizure-free".​Among specific patient populations, DS patients had a 62 percent reduction in seizures and 13 percent were seizure-free. Patients with LGS experienced a 71 percent reduction in atonic seizures,” stated a release from the American Epilepsy Society. “We are pleased to report these promising data on significant numbers of children,” stated lead author Orrin Devinsky, M.D., of New York University Langone Medical Center’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, in a release. “These data reinforce and support the safety and efficacy we have shared in previous studies. Most importantly it is providing hope to the children and their families who have been living with debilitating seizures.” ​From the Article: Marijuana extract slashes pediatric seizures, landmark study confirms​Published by: San Francisco GateOriginal Link: http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2015/12/15/marijuana-extract-slashes-pediatric-seizures-landmark-study-confirms/Art by:Banana patrol under ﻿Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported﻿﻿12/15/2015

The researchers said MDMA appears to enhance the extinction of the conditioned fear by altering neuronal activity in the amygdala, a brain structure associated with memory and emotions.

Researchers have discovered that MDMA — commonly known as ecstasy or molly — speeds up the extinction of the conditioned fear response in mice. The findings help explain why the psychedelic drug is of benefit to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Clinical studies have found that using MDMA as an aid during psychotherapy resulted in long-lasting improvements in PTSD symptoms. But Matthew Young of Emory University and his colleagues wanted to understand the psychological mechanism behind these results. The researchers said MDMA appears to enhance the extinction of the conditioned fear by altering neuronal activity in the amygdala, a brain structure associated with memory and emotions.

Forty years of dogged adherence to drug crop eradication and drug interdiction policies have been instrumental in hounding drug farmers and traffickers into increasingly fragile landscapes.

New research—much of it using newly available real-time satellite imagery of forest loss—is bringing into sharp focus the devastating ecological costs of conventional drug policies, and how these can profoundly undermine international policies designed to protect forests, mitigate climate change, and promote rural development. The international drug control system must share the blame for this devastation. Forty years of dogged adherence to drug crop eradication and drug interdiction policies have been instrumental in hounding drug farmers and traffickers into increasingly fragile landscapes. Although these policies have arguably done little to stem the cultivation and traffic of illicit drugs, it has done much to amplify the environmental devastation and degradation that accompanies them.

"I’m proud to announce that next year, I will be releasing the first-ever Surgeon General’s Report on substance use, addiction and health. We’re going to look at the best science on everything, from heroin and marijuana, to alcohol and prescription opioids.”​Under the Obama administration, federal drug agencies have made a point to talk about addiction as a medical problem, but the drug control budget continues to devote far more resources to arrests, punishment and interdiction than to health strategies like treatment and prevention. If President Obama intends to bring federal drug policies and budgets into line with his administration’s rhetoric before he leaves office, he could hardly find a better or more effective way to do it than through the nation’s top medical doctor. Murthy previewed the report during a speech at the Unite to Face Addiction Rally on the National Mall in October. “It’s time for us to have a conversation in this country that’s based on facts; A conversation that’s based on medicine and science,” he said at the rally, according to a draft of his reports, “Which is why I’m proud to announce that next year, I will be releasing the first-ever Surgeon General’s Report on substance use, addiction and health. We’re going to look at the best science on everything, from heroin and marijuana, to alcohol and prescription opioids.”

Neuropsychological investigation have found that long-term ayahuasca users had better performance than control subjects on tests of frontal function and on the WHO-UCLA auditory verbal learning test.

Since the 1980s, churches in which ayahuasca is prepared and consumed have been spreading to urban centers initially in South America and then in North America and in Europe. Recently it has shown that the administration of the [ayahuasca] tea in rats changes the serotonin levels in the amygdala and hippocampus, brain regions known to be related to the emotional behavior and memory. However, despite of acting directly on the serotoninergic receptors, it was also observed an increase on the dopamine and noradrenaline levels in amygdala of animals. The impact of acute ayahuasca consumption on the activation of limbic structures was also observed in human neuroimaging studies. Oral ayahuasca administration in volunteers increased the cerebral blood flow in regions known to be involved with episodic memory, contextual associations and emotional processing, such as the parahippocampal gyrus, the anterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala . In addition, long-term ayahuasca users have reported that regular use of ayahuasca in a religious context improves memory, concentration and a sense of meaning in their lives. Neuropsychological investigation have found that long-term ayahuasca users had better performance than control subjects on tests of frontal function and on the WHO-UCLA auditory verbal learning test.From the Article: Effects of Long-Term Ayahuasca Administration on Memory and Anxiety in RatsPublished by: Plog.org JournalsOriginal Link:http://journals.plos.org/Art By:Awkipuma(Own work) CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons9/4/2015

The reputation of these compounds is undergoing rehabilitation, but we can’t know how long it will take to shrug off the weight of the mischaracterizations that have been heaped on them for years.While the full history of psychedelic research cannot be summarized concisely, it seems to have ended, at least for a time, with Richard Nixon’s signing of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. The statute placed compounds like LSD, psilocybin, and other psychedelics in the Schedule I category—rendering them illegal to manufacture, distribute, or use—and designated them as having no accepted medical use for treatment within the United States. The reputation of these compounds is undergoing rehabilitation, but we can’t know how long it will take to shrug off the weight of the mischaracterizations that have been heaped on them for years. Academic conference each have their own atmospheres (entomology gatherings feel different from political science conclaves, for example); perhaps it is because of the relative freshness of the field, but this one was shot through with a sense of wonder and optimism rarely found in other disciplines. And despite a distinctive mood of conviviality, the aesthetic trappings of hippiedom one might expect of a psychedelics conference were limited to a smattering of tie-dyed shirts.

Although MDMA has been administered to more than 1,000 subjects with only one report of an unexpected serious adverse event (which ended when the drug wore off), the drug doesn't come without risks. It can increase heart rate and blood pressure and cause the body to overheat, which can lead to liver, kidney, muscle, and heart failure. (This is of particular concern when the drug is taken recreationally).

There is no convincing evidence that moderate MDMA use is associated with structural or functional brain alterations in neuroimaging measures.

The lack of significant results was associated with high methodological heterogeneity in terms of dosages and co-consumption of other drugs, low quality of studies and small sample sizes.From the Article: Neuroimaging in moderate MDMA use: A systemic reviewPublished by:ElsevierOriginal Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976341530213XArt By: By DrOONeil (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0

ECfES

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